Friday, March 27, 2015

Alejandro Hidalgo's acclaimed supernatural thriller THE HOUSE AT THE END OF TIME will receive its UK DVD release on April 27th through Matchbox Films.

Ruddy Rodriguez (The Living Daylights) stars as Dulce, a mother who lives in an old house with her young children and husband. After terrifying encounters with mysterious apparitions, the ghost of an old woman leaves Dulce a series of messages warning that her husband will kill their children. She desperately tries to avoid this prophecy, but is helpless as the tragedy begins to unfold. Dulce is sentenced to a maximum penalty of imprisonment for a crime she did not commit. Thirty years later, an elderly Dulce returns home on compassionate release. There, with the help of a Priest, she will try to uncover the mystery and tragedy that has tormented her for so long.

The first horror film produced in Venezuela smashed box office records when it was theatrically released in its home territory and has since become the dark horse of the genre festival circuit where it's unique combination of jump out of your seat thrills, pathos and empathy has won over the hearts and minds of audiences worldwide, including Fantasporto in Portugal, Fantasia in Montreal, FrightFest in London and Screamfest LA where it won awards for Best Film and Best Director.

THE HOUSE AT THE END OF TIME was previously released in the USA by MPI on their Dark Sky Films label and a Hollywood studio remake is currently in development.

"A confident, clever spin on the haunted house tale which invites comparisons with Robert Wise’s The Haunting or Alejandro Amenabar’s The Others."
- Rob Daniel, Electric Shadows

"A superbly constructed film with real depth and layers just waiting to be peeled away, with an emotional core often missing from this genre"
- Naila Scargill, Exquisite Terror

"The film is going to draw some comparisons to The Conjuring, The Others and Oculus, but The House at the End of Time is the best of all of those films - an impressive, confident and creepy debut"
- Ryan Turek, Shock Till You Drop.

"Scary as hell...but also has a family centered heart that reminds me of films like Poltergeist.
I strongly recommend this movie to anyone
who loves a great haunting tale"
- Adam Ruhl, Pop Culture Beast

Costume monsters, cheesy one-liners, and over-the-top characters are usually a recipe for disaster-and not in the good, “we all love a good disaster”-way. However “Love In The Time Of Monsters” finds that magic sweet spot that brings all this madness together beautifully. Writer Michael Skvarla expresses a mildly genius ability to create a story that is fun, full of energy, and fast-paced with characters and situations that are truly entertaining. The fact that Matt Jackson took that vision and brought it to life in such a clever way, blending classic 80’s styled humor, and special effects while giving a true to now experience is phenomenal. “Love In The Time Of Monsters” is really beyond the basic indie monster movie, and proves there are still plenty of original stories alive in horror.

The story itself sets up a group of vacationers and residents at a wilderness tourist trap against some pretty unnatural circumstances. Toxic waste, viral mutants, and nature gone wild bring mayhem and carnage to the great outdoors. A bigfoot themed, All-American vacation spot with a Croatian-American owner, Bigfoot costumes, plenty of bad one-liners, zombie critters, and human mutants make “Love In The Time Of Monsters” a fun, witty horror/comedy that plays on both classic and modern concepts of relationships, love and horror. So much of this film and the direction taken to bring it to life should have and could have went wrong but somehow it all comes together to make one pretty awesome movie.

The acting is tight, with quick dialog delivered on time by a cast that brings their A game. “Love In The Time Of Monsters” stars Doug Jones, Kane Hodder, Michael McShane, Shawn Weatherly, Heather Rae Young, Gena Shaw, Marissa Skell, Paula Rhodes, Hugo Armstrong, Danny Vasquez, Paul Elia, Ben Palacios, Jade Carter, Zylan Brooks, Alex Sanborn and Bigfoot. The story is really does have a bit of everything mixed in with an almost slasher-esque atmosphere and setting, zombie/mutants, gore, comedy, even some boobs pop out in a “Zombeavers” like moment of bloody fun. There are a few moments where dialog falls flat, and characters step a bit over the line of authenticity but well over 95% of everything written and given in “Love In The Time Of Monsters” is just so on point and great that the flubs just don’t matter much.

The special effects are, as I said, a big ole bag of practical awesomeness with blood, guts, and gore. There is a tiny bit of CGI that does cheapen a one or two moments in the film but considering “Love In The Time Of Monsters” is a film with flesh-eating mutants running around in Bigfoot costumes, zombie wildlife, and characters who seem too cool for school in that comedy way, the CGI is not a big downer. Plus most of the effects in this thing are old school, organic methods of monster movie making that, thanks to killer directing, writing, and clever acting, give one entertaining viewing experience.

The soundtrack and sound effects are pure energy. The hard rock, heavy metal soundtrack takes the atmosphere up a notch while feeling reminiscent of classic 80’s horror. The sound effects offer up atmospheric chills that are both dark and fun. Overall “Love In The Time Of Monsters” is a great indie monster movie. Even the “real” Bigfoot makes an appearance to save the day. He is a bit costume-y, but much like the animatronic critters and tongue-in-cheek dialog, it just works. This is a film that all of horror’s fans, both the hardcore “dark material” fans and the horror comedy fans. Definitely check out “Love In The Time Of Monsters”, it is a film that you don’t expect to be so damn good but it just is!

Thursday, March 26, 2015

Deaf, blind and mad as hell. Check out the first teaser for Helen Keller vs Nightwolves. The film is directed by Ross Patterson and stars Jessie Wiseman, Lin Shaye, Barry Bostwick, Jesse Merlin, Alanna Ubach and Patterson.

Helen Keller vs Nightwolves tells the shocking story of how a group Nightwolves terrorized a tiny village taking people's hearing and eye sight... and the one woman who fought back.

FDR: American Badass Patterson takes a stab at the historical mashup madness horror/action subgenre in this new twisted tale that gives the iconic historical figure some new respect. Helen Keller forced society to redefine how disabilities. Check out the teaser below. Thanks to Twitchfilm.com for the heads up on this wild one!

" In a World on the verge of collapse, a Young girl must use her survival instincts to survive the destructive epidemic that suddenly breaks out, and ravages her once safe childhood home.

Pustule Infected creatures of pure horror, wrought from the deepest depths of hell, stand in line to make life miserable for "The Girl With No Name".

But they have disturbed the wrong Girl."

Director Henrik Andersen, who co-directed the Danish zombie-horror feature Codename: Yin/Yang a few years ago, handled 100 volunteers to make Outburst, which is a tribute to the horror films of the 70s and 80s. -It’s also a tribute to film making in general, Andersen said to TV2 in Denmark. While Outburst is not a direct copy of famous genre movies, many of the pioneering directors has influenced Andersen; Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci are of course among the main influences, as are Enzo G. Castellari’s The New Barbarians. -We love the way film was made back then. The honesty and sincerity those movies radiate, in good ways and bad ways, is real film in our view. Something big productions today lack. Other favourite directors include Ruggero Deodato, Mario Bava, George Romero, Tobe Hooper, Jack Hill, Stuart Gordon, Jesus Franco, Sergio Martino, Umberto Lenzi, and Jean Rollin.

Andersen to Sørensen Exploitation Cinema: -The willpower that fueled their visions and creativity so it could be captured on film, is a huge inspiration. One scene in the film is a direct tribute to a scene in Mad Max 2: The road warrior, and in the same scene there is a hint to the Swedish exploitation classic Thriller (aka The Call Her One Eye), starring the legendary Christina Lindberg. And furthermore, the film’s composer Flemming Berg has made a soundtrack similar to those of John Carpenter, Claudio Simonetti, Ennio Morricone and Goblin. Synthesizer horror scores at their best!

Henrik Andersen, who not only directs Outburst but also co-wrote it with Kim Hermansen (the two also financed the movie with their own money), runs the company AMOS-FX (A matter of splatter) which provides special effects for around 20 movies, shorts and commercials each year. He prefers physical special effects: -We use [squibs] and make small explotions in front of rolling cameras. It always looks better when you make it real like that. But we can’t make everything, so we also use digital treatment, he says to the Danish newspaper JyllandsPosten, referring to gunfire.

Director Andersen describes his film as “fun, because it exaggerates so much” and “so grotesque that one will laugh at it”. Several scenes required 35 litres of blood each, so fans of the crimson stuff should expect Outburst to deliver!

If you want to buy a DVD copy of OUTBURST, write a mail to Henrik Andersen broderbyld@yahoo.dk
The DVD has English Subtitles and lots of extra features.